Weekend Runners Shine Despite Overcast Skies

What a whirlwind of a weekend that was! Thousands of runners descended on the city of Allentown over the weekend to run the St. Luke’s Lehigh Valley Half Marathon and the Physical Therapy at St. Luke’s 5k. For this year’s 25th running of the half marathon more than 3200 runners participated and the 5k race had 451 participants. I just love the energy and good running vibe that emanates from this event.

The weekend started off with an exceptional day of sunshine in center city Allentown. This year’s Expo was grade A in my book. From the variety of venders and ease of packet pickup to the chance to mingle and talk with running authors Chris McDougall, Marc David and Mark Remy as well as other runners at the Expo – that alone was enough to lift your energy level up a bar. But there was more, the annual Kids Run, what a great event! More than 800 little runners getting the chance to do what mom or dad does, run. It was heart warming to see those little smiles with a medal strung around their necks.

After all that, Saturday celebrations continued at the Pasta Dinner as runners “carbed up” and listened to Chris McDougall, author of Born To Run, speak to the crowd.

Sunday morning greeted runners with rain. Not the most ideal conditions but we runners are tough, we can take it. After all, we just trained through one seriously tough winter, right? The weather improved immensely when the rain ceased at the start of the race and held off the entire time. Personally, I thought the conditions were ideal for a race: overcast and cool.

The new course was a bit twisty in the beginning and end of the race, the beginning of which felt pretty tight since the crowd didn’t have a chance to thin out yet. But, it worked and next year we get our normal course back. This year’s course change was due to construction on the Ott St. bridge. Water stations were located every couple of miles along the course and energy gels were handed out at two different locations for runners who needed them. As always, the most challenging section of the course takes place in Lehigh Parkway where the majority of hills are located. Once you leave the park and make it past St. Elmo Street you are good to go.

Well, almost. It seems there is one last cruel little joke to be played. In that final mile when you leave Broadway and run into the stadium, the joke appears. I know I’m not the only one who curses at that short but steep incline leading into the stadium. However, the magnitude of shouts from the crowd surrounding you will pull you to the top every time. All that is left is approximately 300 meters of rubber track before you cross the finish line.

This year’s overall champ and men’s top finisher was Kevin Borrelli of Throop, PA who finished in 1:08:49. The overall women’s finisher was our very own Kathleen Jobes of Bethlehem, finishing in 1:18:44.

Second and third place men’s finishers were Ramon Laboy, (2^nd) with 1:09:46 and Ian Walsh, (3^rd) with a time of 1:11:47. The women’s second place winner was Kelly Ciravolo with a time of 1:22:16 and Amy Grab secured the third place position with a PR time of 1:24:11.

The winners of the 5k race were Evan Neft (17:23) and Kelly Curry (20:07).

Congratulations to all 3600+ runners and walkers who participated and earned new personal achievements, whether that came in the form of a new PR time, a new distance record, fund raising for a cause, overcoming personal obstacles or simply having a great time with friends.

Race Results

It was a great weekend in the Lehigh Valley.